Sometimes Things Click

It amazes me sometimes how God works. Like when you hear the same scripture verse multiple times in the same week, or the right song comes on the radio at the exact right moment, etc. Well, tonight one of those weird-cool God things happened to me. I go the Baptist Collegiate Ministry on ISU's campus on Tuesday nights whenever I can make it. It's been such a huge blessing in my life (another post on that later). Tonight Rose, one of the BCM leaders, spoke on "spurring one another on toward love and good deeds" (see Hebrew 10:24). Basically, on encouraging one another. One of the last points she touched on was encouraging others by sharing your own story. She challenged us all to go to www.MostImportantThing.org - a site where you can share your testimony. I've heard Roger and Rose both talk about this site before and I've always wanted to do it but haven't yet.

But here's why Rose's challenge to share your story was a God thing -

My first OLW assignment (see previous post here) was to make 12 intentions for the year. Here's my intention pages that I created back in January:

So no big deal there - but now take a closer look at my April intention: (and note that today is April 2)

Yeah. I'd call that a God thing.

So here I sit trying to type up my spiritual story. As soon as I can pare multiple pages down to 300 words (a The Most Important Thing requirement), I will post my story on there. And I hope to share the full multi-page story with some of the close people in my life. Thanks for the encouragement Rose!

Old Unicorns

This current Doodle United theme is 'unicorns.' I was really excited for this one because unicorns were one of my favorite things to draw in middle/high school. While I'm busy inking/coloring my new sketches for the theme, I thought I'd pull out some of my old unicorn art: (click to view larger)

Top Left: an early ink sketch (probably from middle school)
Top Right: a plushy sketch (from college)
Bottom Left: another middle/high school colored pencil sketch
Bottom Right: Unicorn batik from high school. This is one of those things I'd love to try again. Batik has kind of a learning curve, so I didn't really get the hang of it right away. Super fun process though.

Stamps At A Glance

       This week I decided to try something I saw on Pinterest. I have a LOT of stamps. The problem is they don't all fit in one drawer. Most my wooden ones are shoved in one drawer, but then I have a 2" binder full of clear stamps (another Pinterest idea), and some other wood stamps stuck in a few other drawers with other stuff.  My wheel stamps just get shoved wherever they won't get stuck, and I have one more pile that's not in this picture for the jumbo stamps (over 4" wide). They're everywhere! 

        The bad thing is when I'm crafting I'm terrible about not using any of my stamps - because I can't remember what I have. I'm not about to take 30 minutes to dig through the drawers just to see if I have a stamp I might be able to use for a project. 

        So, la Pinterest, I went through and either stamped or photocopied each stamp/set that I have onto white card stock. Those pages went into a tiny 1/2" binder. It doesn't help with actually storing them, but now I can quickly see what stamps I have just by flipping through a binder. Yes, this did take a while to do - but I have a feeling I might actually use my stamps more now! 

Some pics of the finished binder.

A-Tisket, A-Tasket

A brand new basket! I made this at mom & I's most recent basket class. Even though I was fighting an ear/sinus infection, it was fun to get back to class since we haven't been in a while. Also, my first basket with purse handles. 

BELIEVE Vision Board

      The February prompt for OLW was to create a 'vision board.' Ali described is as "a visual intention—a collection of images and words of what you’d like to invite into your life." So I busted out some canvas, paint, mod podge, glimmer mist, and stickles and went to work. I collected images from a couple different magazines as well as some I printed out from Pinterest, and I cut two images on my Cricut to use. On went the paint, then the mod podge, a medium I have never used before. Can't say that I love it; I don't like how it makes the paper crinkle. Since I knew it would turn out that way from looking at Ali's example I was okay with it. Once I got everything glued down, I sprayed some glimmer mist and make some stickle shooting stars. 
      I also wrote a verse my friend Caleb has been talking about lately - 2 Timothy 1:7 "For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline." It seemed to go right along with my word and my intentions for it. Some of the images relate directly to my word: cross - believe in God's promises, mirrors - believe in myself, fantasy/mediaeval dress - make believe. Other's are just one's I found that I like. All of it combined makes an interesting visual for my word.
     Here's the finished board:

Goodbye 'GO,' Hello 'BELIEVE'

This will be my third year participating in something called "One Little Word." I first learned about it on Ali Edward's blog, and now I'm taking her "One Little Word" class via Big Picture Classes for the second year in a row. So what is OLW? Here's some thoughts from Ali herself:

"A single word can be a powerful thing. It can be the ripple in the pond that changes everything. It can be sharp and biting or rich and soft and slow. From my own personal experience, it can be a catalyst for enriching your life. In 2006, I began a tradition of choosing one word for myself each January—a word that I can focus on, meditate on, and reflect upon as I go about my daily life. . . These words have each become a part of my life in one way or another. They've been embedded into who I am, and into who I'm becoming. They've been what I've needed (and didn't know I needed). They've helped me to breathe deeper, to see clearer and to grow. It can be something tangible or intangible. It can be a thought, a feeling, or an emotion. It can be singular or plural. The key is to find something that has personal meaning for you. This is not your mother's word or your spouse's word or your child's word—this is YOUR word. One little word can have big meaning in your life if you allow yourself to be open to the possibilities." - Ali Edwards, taken from the OLW 2013 Workshop Page

Each year I make a necklace
with my word to be a
constant reminder.

It's a really interesting and often revealing process, this OLW. Last year, my word was 'GO.' When I started the year, I thought for sure that meant physically going (namely, to move out of my mom's house). Well, here I still sit, so that certainly wasn't what happened! It mostly ended up being about two phrases: 'Let Go' and 'Go Back.' Let Go - of all the hurts of the past and of everyone else's expectations for me. The only expectation that matters is God's. Be willing to trust God's control and plan for my life. Go Back - remembering what made me, 'me' in the first place. Especially the creative me. I had a nervous breakdown several years ago and have been struggling to regain both my self-confidence in me as a person and me as an artist since then. Also, remembering why I believe what I do and relying on the promises of God. Are either of these phrases complete in me yet? Certainly not! But I think they are stepping stones that God is helping me to work through - so that I can physically go and move on to the next stage of my life. So 2012 ended not quite how I planned, but with more self-awareness than I've ever had before. 

So, so long, 'GO' - and Hello 'BELIEVE.'

My word for this year is 'BELIEVE.' Right now, it mostly means believing in myself, and 'make believe' - awakening my creative spirit. Who knows where this word will take me by the end of the year. I look forward to the journey!

One Happy Dork

I have loved the character Totoro (from the movie "My Neighbor Totoro") since I was a small child. It's one of those things I obsess over: I have Totoro slippers, Totoro seatbelt covers in my car, and various custom Totoro stuff my mom has made over the years. Now I have one more thing to add to my collection! It all started with the fact that hat-scarves are super in right now. I saw a really cool florescent pink & black zebra stripe, extra furry one, at JCPennys a couple of months ago, but I didn't have the money to buy it. By the time I did, they had sold out of them. It dawned on me as I was looking at some other ones that if I could find a pattern for them I could just make one - and how much cooler would Totoro be than the one I saw (don't get me wrong, I LOVE hot pink, but I love Totoro more!). Sure enough, Simplicity had a pattern for this style of hat. Well, yesterday I finally got to put it together - with mom's help - she's the master seamstress after all. We modified the pattern to give it an extra lining in the hand pockets, eyes, nose, different ears, and little toes. It came out super cute! Of course, I couldn't resist taking the iconic shot with the umbrella - my favorite scene from the movie:

So where's the Catbus?

And here's a close up to see the toes better: